"This is not good" - Cousin Usman makes opinion clear on Khabib Nurmagomedov's provocative statement about Irish vs. Dagestani MMA

Reigning Bellator lightweight champion, Usman, seemingly begs to differ from his cousin Khabib Nurmagomedov's recent statements regarding the superiority of Dagestani MMA fighters over Irish fighters. Nurmagomedov suggested that Ireland has very few notable fighters, only mentioning Conor McGregor and Paul Hughes.

'The Eagle' emphasized that Dagestan, in contrast, dominates both the amateur and professional MMA landscape, with champions and top-ranked fighters across multiple promotions. Usman, however, believes that his cousin's comments could stir unnecessary controversy.

While Usman agrees that Dagestan holds a high level in MMA, he stressed the importance of keeping the conversation focused on the sport rather than national comparisons. Speaking about the highly contested subject in a recent interview with MMA Junkie, Usman said:

“If we’re talking about levels, of course we can talk a lot, but we have facts. [Do the] Irish have Bellator champions? No! PFL? No! UFC? No! In PFL, we have champions, in Bellator we have champions, and not only one. In PFL, we have two or three. In Bellator, we have two or three, and in the UFC, soon Umar will be the second one and Islam Makhachev we have. If we talk only about sport, MMA [in] Dagestan, we’re different level."

He added:

“But other things, I don’t want to talk or touch about people or nation. Some people don’t understand, when you say, like, level different, they start talking sh*t, you know? This is not good. We’re not talking about a nation or something. We’re just talking about MMA levels, you know? And that’s it, nothing else, nothing more. And we stay within this border now. We don’t go outside the border and talk sh*t about people, no. We’re just talking about levels in MMA. Fighters from Ireland and Russia, and that’s it.”

Check out Usman Nurmagomedov's comments below (5:50):

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Brendan Schaub talks about Khabib Nurmagomedov's recent comments about Irish MMA

Former UFC heavyweight contender Brendan Schaub recently commented on Khabib Nurmagomedov’s remarks about the dominance of Dagestani MMA fighters. Discussing the controversial statement on his YouTube channel, Schaub pointed out a crucial factor that the former UFC lightweight champion overlooked.

He shed light on Dagestan's sole focus on combat sports, particularly wrestling and sambo. Schaub noted that in contrast, countries like America or Ireland have diverse sports landscapes, and if they dedicated the same level of commitment to MMA, the competition would be unmatched. He said:

"Dagestan is nothing else, all they do is focus on combat sports, nothing else. Wrestling, sambo... that’s their entire focus over there. They play nothing else. Do you realize what would happen if the talent in America or Ireland, but in this case, America, where I’m from, decided to focus at a mass scale on MMA? It would be the dream team vs. everybody else. There would be no competition. Dagestan never had a single athlete ever that could compete in any major sport.”

Check out Brendan Schaub's comments below (55:00):